Catch Me If You Can
by TheSummerNightingale
Summary: Catching has a lot to do with Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy (and sometimes Albus Potter). But perhaps it's a matter of catching each other's hearts than grapes or Skrewts or Quaffles.


**My second attempt at Scorose :)**

**Written for Hogwarts -** _Speed Drabble: 1 hour, 3 word prompts (grape, tape, gasp)_

* * *

><p>"Catch."<p>

Scorpius tossed a grape in a high arc, leaving plenty of time for Rose to open her mouth and catch in her mouth. She did catch it, only it was much less impressive because she did so with her hand.

He and Albus rolled their eyes as Rose glared disapprovingly. "If you keep doing that, you're going to-"

"-choke," the pair said in unison. Albus added, "You've told us already. And we haven't choked yet."

"It's only a matter of time." Rose crossed her legs at the ankles and munched on the grape _the normal way_, closing her eyes as she leaned her head back on the tree.

Albus shook his head. "Come on, it's just for fun."

"Besides," continued Rose, cracking an eye open, "you shouldn't be stealing even more food from the kitchens anyway. You practically stole the one House's worth of food two days ago."

"That's because it _was _for an entire House's worth of people," pointed out Scorpius proudly (he had still yet to get over the fact that he had caught the Snitch just before Hufflepuff caught up). "Not our fault we're such great gentlemen."

Rose, not having anything nor bothering to say something to that, simply scoffed and shut her eye again. Albus and Scorpius continued to munch on the bunch of grapes as they shared smirks.

There was a moment of peace, until-

"Hey, Rose. Catch."

The grape fell to the grass and rolled away, but Scorpius's eyes didn't leave Rose's serene face.

* * *

><p>"Catch it!"<p>

"It's going that way!"

"AH! Don't let it get near me!"

"_Catch it, won't you?_"

"I don't have my wand on me!"

"ARE YOU BOTH GUYS OR WHAT?!"

"That's not fair, these things are _vicious_!"

The "thing" happened to be a one-month-old Blast-Ended Skrewt, and it was running loose in the Gryffindor common room. Luckily, Albus, Rose, and Scorpius were the only three left in the room, keeping the pandemonium to as minimal as it could be. However, all three of them had developed quite rational fears for the Skrewts after extensive tending to them at Hagrid's insistence, and none of them wanted to catch it as it scuttled and hissed around the room.

"It's _repulsive_," Rose shuddered from her perch on her chair.

"It's _huge_," said Albus bluntly, which was appropriate, since the creature was a foot long - an entire foot of barbed, poisonous, and very unwelcoming scorpion-crab hybrid.

"I refuse to catch it," said Scorpius. He was standing on the desk and looked sick at the sight of the Skrewt, which gave a particularly loathsome hiss at the blond.

"Normally I'd tell you off for being cowardly," said Albus, "but that thing is positively _hazardous_."

"Let's hope it doesn't go up to the girls' dormitories," commented Rose. "The Headmaster herself would have to - OH MY GODS, IT'S COMING AT ME." She began to swear quite colourfully as Albus and Scorpius looked on at Rose and the advancing Skrewt with equal parts of horror and fascination.

"DO SOMETHING!" Rose screeched.

Neither Albus nor Scorpius did, but Scorpius suddenly jumped off the desk and darted towards the boys' dorms in flight. Rose's mouth dropped open and she was quite tempted to scream obscenities after him, but the Skrewt took that moment to make a strange coughing sound that rather sounded like a sinister laugh. It approached Rose's chair as she shamelessly whimpered and grabbed the first thing that she touched - a tape dispenser.

As soon as the Skrewt reared up on two pairs of itt back legs (a very disturbing sight), Rose shut her eyes and smashed down the tape dispenser as hard as she could on the Skrewt's head. It only hissed, and she raised the tape above her shoulder, determined to keep hitting the beast until it left her alone, when-

"_Stupefy!_"

A red flash of light hit the Skrewt on the side and it fell rigid to the floor. There was a moment of panicked silence as Rose, Albus, and Scorpius, whose wand stayed pointed at the creature, warily stared at the Skrewt and waited for it to twitch and renew itself with passionate rigor.

When it became clear that it wasn't going to, Rose let out a long breath she had been holding, and turned to Scorpius, saying grudgingly, "I guess you're a guy, after all."

"Yeah, well, I couldn't let it hurt you, could I?" He grinned and bowed. "Ever the gentleman, I am."

To Albus's and Scorpius's surprise, she didn't give her customary eye roll or scoff. Instead, she cocked her head to the side, biting her lip.

And Scorpius didn't know it, but that was just about when he caught her heart.

* * *

><p>"Catch!" she called from her position on her broomstick. She tossed the Quaffle as hard as she could and watched as Scorpius shot after it.<p>

She laughed as he fumbled the ball and swore, accelerating his dive so he could catch it again.

When he finally got his hands around the ball just a few feet from the ground, he stopped and shouted up to where she sat, shaking with mirth, "Hey! I'll have you know that the Snitch is at least ten times smaller than this is!"

"Which is why it should be easier to catch," she called down.

He said something she could not hear, but seconds later, the Quaffle was thrown upwards at an alarming rate.

Rose threw herself down on her broomstick, determined to catch it. She wasn't a huge fan of Quidditch and was horribly mediocre at catching balls, but she hadn't wanted to refuse when Scorpius asked her to go the Quidditch pitch to "fly around" (she should have known he would bring Quidditch it to it).

Unfortunately, as she dived down, she began to slip forwards on her broomstick. Her hands clamored for a tighter grip on the handle, but she kept sliding. Rose screamed in fear, and yanked upwards on her broom.

But it was far too much energy, and so while she didn't fall forward, she fell backwards.

She gave a huge gasp just before she began to fall, and the gasp of air remained constrained in her throat as she plummeted towards the ground feet below.

And just when she was certain she was going to die, just as she was certain she would crash, arms buckled around her waist, and she heard an "Oof!" that sounded quite painful, and suddenly she wasn't falling anymore.

She opened her eyes - she'd almost forgotten how, for how tightly she'd been keeping them shut - and smiled when she saw the familiar grey of her friend's.

"Thanks," she whispered.

Scorpius smirked. "What can I say? I'm just a great gentleman." But he was blushing, and she felt the warmth of his arms through his and her robes, and she noticed how wonderfully she fit into his arms.

Rose had never felt more happy to be caught.


End file.
